Table of Content: 19 October 2011; 10(64)

Assessments of lysosomal membrane responses to stresses with neutral red retention assay and its potential application in the improvement of bivalve aquaculture

In marine bivalves, it has been demonstrated that their lysosomal membrane stability are very susceptible to many internal and external environmental changes and this physiological response can be quantified by the neutral red retention (NRR) assay. This assay has been applied in many recent studies in the areas of environmental monitoring with bivalve species and physiological responses of farmed bivalve species to...

DNA regulatory motif selection based on support vector machine (SVM) and its application in microarray experiment of Kashin-Beck disease

Conserved DNA sequences are essential to investigate the regulation and expression of nearby genes. The conserved regions can interact with certain proteins and can potentially determine the transcription speed and amount of the corresponding mRNA in gene replication process. In this paper, motifs of co-expressed genes of microarray experiments were explored with discovery algorithms. Then a selection algorithm based on...

Citrus nobilis Lour. Gonggan is an excellent fruit variety which is widely planted in South China. The origin of Gonggan is not clear. It is conjectured that its origin is from a cross between tangerine and orange; however, there is no direct evidence to confirm this. Here, we applied the optimized random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD)-PCR to amplify genus Citrus species: 1) to...

Polymorphisms of the methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) gene are associated with abortion, early embryo loss and recurrent spontaneous abortion in human. However, information on the association between MTHFR polymorphism and cow abortion is scarce. In the present study, the effects of MTHFR polymorphism on cow abortion were investigated. The PCR-SSCP and DNA sequencing were applied to detect the polymorphisms...

The ICAD gene plays an important role in the growth and development processesin insects. We conducted a molecular cloning and functional analysis to study a specific silkworm gene BmICAD related to apoptosis. The BmICAD gene was obtained from the fifth instar larvae of the silkworm by RT-PCR and over-expressed in Escherichia coli as His-tagged fusion...

The examination of Na-Ca effect on some qualitative and quantitative characters in durum wheat plants

The effect of salt stress (NaCl) on shoot height (cm), root length (cm), dry and fresh weight (g), chlorophyll a and b, total chlorophyll (mg-1) and carotenoid amount was investigated in this study. In addition, the positive effects of Ca+2 (20 mM) were also investigated. Triticum durum Desf. Mirzabey, Kunduru-1149, and DH-6 and DH-8, derived from Kunduru-1149 using wide hybridization, were used as plant...

An efficient in vitro plant regeneration system from stem explants was established in Phellodendron amurense. Factors influencing shoot regeneration from stems including culture medium type, combinations of plant growth regulators and carbon source in the medium were investigated. Adventitious shoot regeneration was significantly influenced by the type of medium. Murashige and Skoog medium (MS) was the...

Different cultivars differ inherently in their response to drought and those cultivars best adapted to growth in arid and semiarid conditions form the most uniform and vigorous stands when grown under water deficits. The seeds of five wheat cultivars(GA-2002, Chakwal-97, Uqab-2000, Chakwal-50 and Wafaq-2001) were subjected to five different levels of osmotic stress; 0 bars (distilled water, control), -2, -4, -6 and...

Overexpression of homogentisate phytyltransferase in lettuce results in increased content of vitamin E

Vitamin E is a group of lipid soluble compounds, which are important antioxidants and play a crucial role in mammals and plants. They can protect the membrane from photooxidation, and they are involved in signal transduction and transcription regulation as well. The enzyme homogentisate phytyltransferase (HPT) has been demonstrated to be a key enzyme limiting tocopherol biosynthesis. In this study,HPT gene isolated...

Enhanced antioxidant defense after exogenous application of Ca2+ and K+ in Brassica napus seedlings under water deficit stress

Supply of adequate moisture is one of the most important factors limiting agricultural extension and productivity. Ca2+ and K+ are both essential plant nutrients required in a number of developmental and metabolic processes. Both of these nutrients play an important role in ameliorating drought stress in crop plants. This experiment was designed to study whether exogenous application of Ca2+ and...

Ornithogalum caudatum Ait exhibits strong physiological adaptability; however, it suffers a serious menace of pollen abortion, as almost no seed is formed in the plants. In the current study, chromosome karyotype of root-tip cells (RTC) during mitosis, and chromosome behavior of pollen mother cells (PMC) during meiosis inO. caudatum were investigated. We recorded 18 euchromosomes with...

Canola traits and some soil biological parameters in response to fertilization and tillage management

This study describes the effects of fertilization and tillage methods on soil microbial community and canola traits. A field experiment was carried out in 2009 to 2010 growing season. Experiments were arranged in a split plot based on randomized complete block design with three replications. Main plots consisted of no tillage (T1), minimum tillage (T2) and conventional tillage (T3). Six strategies for obtaining the...

Sustainibility of plant production, may only be provided by preservation of wild plant species and local cultivars. Preservation of these genetic resources in Turkey, which has a rich genetic diversity, is essential for breeding program to improve new cultivars. The objective of this study was to compare 47 red clover (Trifolium pratense L.) populations and one cultivar as a control in terms of...

Rocket (Eruca sativa) is an endemic species of the Brassicaceae family which is produced mostly in Mediterranean countries such as Italy, Greece and Turkey. Historical research has shown that rocket was used both as a garden plant and as a kind of herb or spice (Yaniv et al., 1998). According to data from the Turkish Statistics Foundation (TUIK) for the year 2010, Turkey’s rocket production in a year amounted to...

A new cleaner technology for extracting pyruvic acid (PA) from fermentative broth was explored. This process involves recycling waste residue combined with small amount of dispersant added to extract PA. Limited amount of dispersant in the process of rectification under vacuum (1.5 kPa) was found to inhibit the polymerization of PA and to enhance the extraction rate of PA from 20.5 to 92.3% when the volume of dispersant...

Toxic effects of endosulfan on haematological and biochemical indices of Clarias gariepinus

The effects of endosulfan pesticide were investigated on juvenile of Clarias gariepinus. Acute test was carried out using 0.04, 0.05, 0.06, 0.07 and 0.08 ppm of endosulfan pesticide with the 96 h LC50 value determined by probit analysis. Chronic bioassays were evaluated on haematological and biochemical indices of the fish for a period of 60 days using four sub lethal concentrations (0.0005, 0.0010,...

Effects of drought stress on some agronomic and morphological traits of durum wheat (Triticum durum Desf.) landraces under greenhouse condition

Although, drought stress has been well documented as an effective parameter in decreasing crop production; developing and releasing new varieties which are adaptable to water deficit conditions can be a constructive program to overcome unsuitable environmental conditions. The present study was carried out to study the effect of drought stress under greenhouse conditions in Islamic Azad University...

The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of physiographic features such as slope, altitude, aspect and soil on landslides dimensions and distribution in Pahnehkola forest, north of Iran. 30 landslides were selected for detailed observation, with their occurrences recorded by global positioning system (GPS) along the surveyed forest road. Then, landslides were mapped in Arc view and...

Prevalence and antimicrobial susceptibility profiles of Campylobacter jejuni and coli isolated from diarrheic and non-diarrheic goat faeces in Venda region, South Africa

A total of 200 freshly voided goat faeces samples were collected in the study and were examined for the presence of thermophilic Campylobacter spp. The samples were obtained randomly from 2 farm settlements in Venda region, South Africa in 2008 to 2009. All samples were analyzed with the mCCDA media withCampylobacter supplement in microaerophilic condition provided by the Campygen gas envelope (Oxoid). Of...

Seaweeds are used in pharmaceutical and biochemical applications as they possess interesting biological activities that contribute to the discovery of natural therapeutic agents. In this study, the antibacterial activity of n-hexane, dichloromethane and methanolic extracts of brown seaweeds (Phaeophyceae), Sargassum polycystum C. Agardh and Padina australis Hauck, was examined using the disc diffusion and...

Production and improved bleaching abilities of a thermostable xylanase from a newly isolated Streptomyces chartreusis strain

A Streptomyces chartreusis strain L1105 capable of producing extra-cellular xylanase was isolated and identified in this study and the production conditions optimized. The xylanase activities obtained were 121, 137 and 334 U/ml, when using birch wood xylan, beech wood xylan and corncobs xylan respectively, as substrates. Production of xylanase by L1105 on corncobs xylan was enhanced by optimizing the...

Diethyl 5-acetyl-4-methyl-6-(2-fluorophenylimino)-6H-thiopyran-2,3-dicarboxylate(3TM) was synthesized and the antiproliferative activity of 3TM is reported here. Compound 3TM inhibits the growth of human colon cancer HCT-15 with an IC50value of 4.5 µM and breast cancer MCF-7 with an IC50 value of 7 µM in a dose/time dependent manner by using sulforhodamine B assay....

Forty eight samples (30 wastewater and 18 river water) were collected between July and November, 2010, from different sources in Cape Town, South Africa in order to characterize verotoxic non O157: H7 Escherichia coli strains. Samples (1 ml) were inoculated into MacConkey broth (MB, 9 ml) and incubated at 37°C for 24 h, after which a loopful of the MB was then spread onto Eosin Methylene Blue (EMB) and...

Baicalein is one of the major constituents of Scutellaria baicalensis, and some cancer cells could be
inhibited by it according to some studies in recent years. Mice tumor models of U14 cervical cancer was
established in our study, baicalein of high and low dose (40 and 20 mg/kg, respectively) were given
orally to mice. The tumor inhibition rates and the thymus (spleen) weight index were studied, the...